It was ridiculous how easy it is to get from one city to another. There is a simple one-way path that leads through the various routes, and then through the cities, and then straight to the next city. It's so easy to get around, I'm, surprised that I'd never thought of leaving Nuvema Town before.
I'm glad that my Snivy is in a Pokeball in my box of treasures, which is hidden in my purse. Most of my hair is hidden under a cap Touya had given me for a birthday a few years ago, so I was hoping that if any Plasma Grunts saw me, they'd think my hair was too short to be Touko White, the wanted criminal.
In a way, it's kinda fun being a fugitive. I've even been in the game corner, gambling away my savings for a while until I realize that I'm getting addicted and have lost way more than I've won. Until I hit the jackpot at the roulette table, and then I take my winnings and get the hell out of there.
Not wanting to risk staying at a hotel or anything, I take to napping in the forest. I also watch the local TV broadcasts straight from the Team Plasma Castle to see if they are saying anything about me. So far, so good.
I am training my Snivy up at night, when nobody pays much attention to any strange noises, especially because Team Plasma works all the people of Unova so hard that they sleep like the dead when they got the chance to sleep. I'm pretty proud of Snivy by now, he's gotten so strong and almost unbeatable. Plus now we have a bond and know each other's fighting style so well we could practically read each other's mind to know what move to use next.
I couldn't have caught a better Pokemon if I'd known what I was doing when I caught one.
Eventually though, when I reach Lacunosa Town, I start seeing my face all over the Team Plasma television screens they have in every town, so I start really living like a fugitive – as in, bathing in rivers, sleeping in trees and living life in forests.
At first it's crazy fun, but when I imagine what my hair must look like, I begin to hate the life of a fugitive.
The best part is training my Snivy. It gives me an adrenaline rush to see him battling, and the idea of getting caught really excites me (yeah, I know that's kind of messed up). I mean, it's really fun to battle wild Pokemon, but both me and Snivy need a harder challenge, like battling a real person (read: Team Plasma Grunt, since no one else had Pokemon in the Unova region) who'd actually leveled up their Pokemon.
A couple of days later, Snivy and I are battling a Patrat, which Snivy is easily taking down. I don't even have to say anything, he knows exactly what to do in order to win. In a way, Snivy is a lot like me – if Touya were here, he'd say, "Yeah, you both look green" and I'd hit him, which made me miss Touya a lot more – in that whenever we did something, we both played to win. It makes us an excellent team.
As the Patrat faints, I cheer to keep Snivy's self-esteem up, even though I'm pretty sure both of us knew there was nothing in the Lostlorn Forest that can beat him. Admittedly though, it is a pretty sucky cheer, just the basic "Yay!" but it's not like I'd ever had a dream of becoming a cheerleader.
Okay, maybe I had. But so what? It's not like I still want to be.
Fine. Maybe just a little, deep down inside, I'd like to be a cheerleader. But my cheering sucks. I admitted it, okay? Now shut up and quit laughing at me.
My pitiful cheering is interrupted though, when Snivy starts to glow. I am distracted by how adorable Snivy looks glowing like that, until my voice of reason screams in my head, "Touko! Glowing is abnormal! Make it stop! Go, go, go!"
"SNIVY!" I scream, even though that probably wouldn't help at all. My hypothesis was right – it did absolutely nothing.
I don't know how to make anything stop glowing. I'm not even sure why the fuck Snivy is glowing in the first place. All I know is that I am scared out of my mind.
It suddenly occurs to me that maybe the whole experience of glowing could be painful, so I scoop Snivy into my arms and hug him to my chest in an attempt to comfort him. He squeals in delight and snuggles closer to me, so it sort of looks like my chest is glowing too.
Awkward …
It gets even freakier when Snivy kind of fades into a green light. I scream and almost drop him to the floor, but my instincts tell me to hold on. His shape is flickering, from the one I recognize as Snivy to something else completely.
Okay, what the fuck is going on? I look up at the sky, trying to channel my possibly-dead mother's Pokemon intelligence. What is happening to Snivy? A little help here would be nice here, mom, considering you got yourself kidnapped and left me alone at age FOUR.
When I looked down, Snivy had gotten back an actual shape and form, and even stopped glowing. Except – the thing in my arms was not a Snivy.
"SERVINE!" it cries out and the whole thing finally makes sense to me.
"Sniv – Servine! You evolved!" I cry ecstatically, holding him out with my arms and spinning him around, giggling.
After the dizziness subsided, I realize how strong I had trained Snivy to be, so strong that he'd evolved after only a few days of us together. Fuck yes! I think proudly. I am THE ultimate Pokemon Trainer!
Then I realized that no one else had been around to see the awesomest thing I'd probably ever done in my entire life of seventeen years so far. I returned Servine to his Pokeball so he wouldn't be offended by what I was about to say.
"This SUCKS!" I scream, just to get the frustration out, and listened to my voice echo through the forest. It sounded kind of cool.
Wait – if I could hear my voice echoing throughout the forest, than other people could too. Like Team Plasma Grunts out to get wanted fugitives, such as me. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.
As if my someone was listening to my thoughts and making them come true – and if they were, thanks a lot for picking the BAD thoughts and not the one where I was starving and could have totally used some pecha berries – someone grabbed my arms, jerking me off the floor.
"OW!" I yell indignantly.
They say nothing, just start dragging me into the bushes. I struggle, but they're pretty strong and I can't escape. I have to say I'm impressed, Plasma Grunts always look like such weaklings. Maybe they've got a gym in the Team Plasma Castle?
Hey! Says my voice of reason cheerfully. Don't you remember? You packed pepper spray in case of this kind of thing!
That's true, I realize. What would I do without my slightly annoying voice of reason? As secretly as I can, I reach for the pepper spray in my purse, like any sensible fugitive.